Plans
by sarahlu
Summary: Plans, by nature, change. Beginning from Moonlight Desires, Craig realizes that what was certain before is uncertain now following a moment with Marco. AU, but it could arguably fit within canon. Slash.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is labeled as "slightly AU" because I'm not sure yet whether it'll follow canon as we get farther into Season 5, or if it'll go somewhere else completely. For now, though, it's following events as they played out in Season 4. Please review and let me know what you think!

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Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me!

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Plans, by nature, change.

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"Ash, I hate to cancel..."

"But?"

"But, Marco's having a crisis. Him, Dylan, not so great right now."

"And?"

"And, Dylan's having this party tonight..."

"D-don't worry, it's fine. I have work to do anyway."

"You're sure?"

"No worries."

"Ash, you're the best. And... I love you."

"Love you, too. I'll see you Monday."

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Walking into the party, Craig realizes that Ashley truthfully does have no reason to worry: Hardly a girl is in sight. Not that he would even consider doing anything to hurt Ash again, of course. His future, he knows, will be all about her. He tries to avoid dwelling on the thought, since the last time he vocalized it, it didn't go over so hotly. Still, he knows. The strongest, most sanity-inducing medication in all of Canada couldn't change that.

Visibly, Marco is freaking, so Craig directs his attention to the night's mission. Dylan will be gotten once again, or will be left feeling stupid for losing Marco. Wonderful, kind Marco. The Marco that continues to be one of Craig's best friends despite all of Craig's awful decision-making over the years. Craig would comfortably argue that Marco is a catch and a half.

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When Marco announces the new subplot of their mission, Craig is surprised. Well, maybe not in terms of the average guy, but for Marco? Not in recent history can Craig recall Marco showing an interest in revenge. Now, Marco and some ordinary guy with an ordinary name are chatting it up, and Craig somehow is not seeing jealousy as one of the emotions in Dylan's face. Pride, maybe. Relief, perhaps. Jealousy, no.

Unfortunately, when the guy walks away, he can clearly read Marco's face.

Guilt.

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He's never really given thought to a moment like this before. Marco's spent the night plenty of times, but he and Craig never really did much by the way of emotional repair through deep flattery. Craig wishes he'd had the chance to write out a coherent list of things to say. Like, _You've always been a great friend_. Or, _You're really great at planning stuff_. Or even, _Ellie seems to have superb taste in guys, and you were her number one!_ Instead, he fumbles around like he's never fumbled before. Not even with a stunningly pretty girl has he lost the Word Olympics so badly.

He realizes, a little too far in, that his problem could very possibly be stemming from the fact that Marco is actually a stunningly pretty _guy_.

This causes even more confusion, more hole digging as he backpedals. He's practically proclaimed his un-gayness in fifteen different languages when Marco's smile slips off his face. Craig decides to resort to short answers thereafter:

"You're an idiot?"

And before he knows it, Dylan is at the top of the stairs, and Marco is... on his mouth.

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Kissing on his mouth, lips on lips, to be more specific.

Suddenly, Craig's body decides to forgo the usual protocol and desynchronizes. His face rolls through multiple expressions, his stomach drops to the floor, and his brain lags at least three seconds behind it all. By the time Marco goes to talk to Dylan, Craig's brain has registered that he has said two sentences, that neither of said sentences contained words of vulgarity or disgust, and that perhaps his sexuality is less intact than previously assumed.

Craig amazes even himself by being composed enough to be waiting back in the party when Marco returns from the hallway with Dylan. But when Marco brushes straight past him, Craig knows he's in trouble; after Operation Cheer Up Part One, Craig is in serious need of a consult with himself to figure out what the hell happened.

Still, like the friend he should be--the friend Marco deserves--Craig goes to the staircase and puts a hand on Marco's back. Silently he stands, and once Marco collects himself, silently they leave.

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	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here's good ol' chapter two. I'm just writing where it takes me, so I think it's slowly evolving into a look into more than just Craig and Marco... not that I'm complaining, though, haha. Hope you enjoy this, and as always, review with whatever you thought, good or bad!

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Disclaimer: I still own nothing. Alas, I can only dream of such awesome power.

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Ellie was not entirely surprised when she arrived at school Monday morning, only to find Craig hurrying over towards her. After all, she'd spent a great part of Saturday with Marco, and so she'd heard all about the party, and Dylan, and the nerve of it all. She'd also heard a brief mention of something involving Craig, but Marco rushed over the details, leaving Ellie to assume it must not have been all that important.

Apparently, she assumed wrong.

"Ellie! Ellie!" Craig was still making a beeline towards her, but Ellie continued to walk towards the front doors. Skidding a bit, Craig finally caught up and slowed to a walk alongside her.

"Wait, Ellie, there's something I need to ask you about."

Ellie stopped and turned, with a roll of her eyes, to face Craig. "Let me guess. Marco?"

A slight flinch. "Uh, well, uh..."

"Marco told me." The boy's eyes grew wider. "Or didn't tell me," Ellie corrected quickly. "He mentioned something. Didn't really get into it."

Now, eyebrows raised and lips set in a nervous frown, Craig's facial expression made Ellie all the more curious.

"Why are you asking me anyway?" she challenged. "Ash should be here soon."

Craig's head bobbed back and forth as he shrugged. "Yeah, well. I know we're not the best of friends, but... you know Marco."

"And you don't?"

"Not like you, Ellie. You're like, a Marco expert."

"Call it that if you will, but I have to go to my locker before homeroom," Ellie said. "I'll see you and Ash at lunch."

"But--" Craig threw his arms up in exasperation. As if he could talk about this around Ash. He watched Ellie's retreating figure as he slumped his bookbag onto the ground and sat up on one of brick half-walls. Ashley would be arriving soon, and who knew. Maybe seeing her would fix everything. After all, she was his future.

Right?

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"El!"

Ellie looked to the ceiling and contemplated shutting her face in her locker. Didn't everyone know she preferred being ignored and unpopular?

But this time, as she turned to look who was demanding her now, the sense of impending doom for the conversation to follow wasn't present. Instead, she was relieved to see Marco smiling broadly and looking much healthier than he had on Saturday.

"El, you are not going to believe this: I might be going to Africa! For the summer!"

How could she not smile for the boy? His cheer was so contagious, even for her.

"Oh?" Ellie replied, continuing to transfer books to her bag.

"Ellie, I feel amazing! I went to Caitlin's set yesterday; they won't air the clip, but she offered me this opportunity to _do something_ about AIDS, and it's not final but..." he took a breath and grinned, "I think it'll work out. I've already sold Ma on the idea."

"That does sound great, Marco."

"It's just--this freedom! Before, I had all these plans for the summer, but now? Could I _be_ any luckier?" Grabbing one of Ellie's hands, Marco dipped his head just slightly to look sincerely into her eyes. "I owe you so much, El."

Ellie smirked and rolled her eyes. "Trust me, this was _not_ my doing. I just talked to you."

"You made me understand that there's life beyond Dylan." Marco dropped her hand and sighed. "I guess we should get going to Simpson's."

"Ah, yes. Simpson's it is," said Ellie as she shut her locker.

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Sitting in his chair, minutes before the bell was to ring, Craig could feel one of his legs shaking uncontrollably. He didn't know why he was so jittery. Or, rather, he did know _why_: Any minute now, Marco would be walking through the door, taking his seat in the same room. He just didn't know why the anticipation of such a harmless event was sending his heart rate through the roof. For the third time that morning, Craig checked his school email and lightly tapped his fingers on the keys, staring blankly at the screen.

Ashley had also been staring, though her gaze was on Craig, and her expression was more bewildered than blank. She wished it wasn't the case, but all she could think was that Craig had missed his meds over the weekend. Of course, the first time a break from Craig for more than a day comes along, he can't control himself. Figured. Finally, Ashley decided to interfere.

"Craig," she whispered sharply.

"Huh?" Still shaking, still staring.

"Craig!"

This time, Craig got the message. "What?"

"Craig, you're shaking, and like, freaking out. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." His answer was short--too short. Ashley drew a breath before going into the forbidden territory.

"Look, I don't want to ask this, but... have you been taking your meds?" Ashley knew it was a sensitive subject, but pressed on anyway. "You're not normal today."

Craig broke his gaze from the computer, slowly turning his head to face Ashley. On his face, his expression approached disgust.

"Don't talk to me."

Ashley's voice raised slightly in volume, but still she whispered: "Craig!"

"You wouldn't understand, Ashley." With that, Craig stood up and grabbed his bag, defiantly moving down the row to an empty seat. But in all his huffing and puffing, Craig didn't realize who was trying to walk by at the same time.

He couldn't have planned it any worse if he'd tried.

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"Craig! Ow! Hey, where are you going?"

Marco.

_Shit._

Craig's face scrunched up in about every possible way as he slid into the free seat on the end, conveniently next to the one person he was consciously avoiding. Across the room, Ellie stared with a mixed look of interest and suppressed hilarity. Marco was seated now, unloading some things out of his messenger bag and outwardly showing the least bit of awareness towards Craig's bizarre behavior.

Still cringing, Craig logged onto his email and typed out a quick message before the starting bell rang. Suspecting she was the target of Craig's furious writing, Ellie turned her attention from the droning morning announcements to her email inbox. Surprisingly, though, she found two messages awaiting her eyes. The first was from Ashley:

_what the hell is wrong with my bf?_

Shocker.

Next, the message she was truly interested to see:

_forget lunch we need to talk asap... nothing around ash PLEASE_

Ellie rolled her eyes, not just at her position stuck between all these people, but also at the fact that she wanted to know more, that she was willing to play the game to figure out what possibly could have happened at Dylan's party. Quickly, she replied to both emails, then looked over to Marco for some sort of silent help. He shrugged nonchalantly, but his unintentional body language spoke volumes. Marco could pretend to ignore Craig's awkwardness all he wanted, yet to Ellie, he was visibly just as uncomfortable and antsy as the boy sitting beside him.

Craig wasn't lying, Ellie realized. She really was a Marco expert.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: The saga continues. Never meant this to be so Ellie-centric, but it seems that she's become the best way to move the story along. I'm envisioning some pace pick-up by the next chapter, and I apologize, but I'm wildly detail oriented. I could take pages to explain the events over the course of a day, as you may have noticed. Thanks for reading, though, and of course, review to let me know what you think!

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Disclaimer: I still own nothing.

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Not entirely voluntarily, Ellie met with Craig in the broom closet during second period. She felt as though she'd been dragged halfway through the school by the time they reached their destination, but she understood that Craig was a class or two away from exploding. Besides, she couldn't deny that she was anxious to get down to the bottom of all of this.

When Craig had secured the door and regained his composure on some level, he opened his mouth to begin. "So, uh, sorry that I made you skip, but--"

"Craig, just get to it already."

Audibly, Craig gulped, and all the words that followed spilled out in one messy lump.

"We kissed. I mean, we--_he_--kissed me."

There was a silence between the two, and Craig was pretty sure his heartbeat could be heard loud and clear.

After a few tense moments, Ellie crossed her arms and settled on her response: "Okay."

Even in the dimly lit room, she could see Craig's expression turning to confusion. "That's all? 'Okay'?"

"Well, I was going to say 'Welcome to the club,' but I thought that might be insensitive."

"Funny," said Craig quietly.

Ellie pulled up an overturned mop bucket and took a seat. Craig followed, and so they sat briefly in silence.

"You know," Ellie started, "as well as I know Marco, you're going to have to tell me more before I can help you."

"I guess, I just don't understand very much right now. About myself, about Ash." He paused and looked up at Ellie. "About Marco."

Ellie attempted a response, but Craig cut her off immediately. "I don't know if I'm ready to talk about it yet, though." He added quickly, "No offense."

Craig stood up, gathered his bookbag, and started to unlock the door; Ellie, meanwhile, sighed softly and wondered what the whole point of this meeting had been. Clearly, Craig wasn't comfortable enough around her to speak his feelings, all of her valuable knowledge aside. He flashed a half-smile before finally shutting the door, and with that, Ellie was left sitting alone in frustration.

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Later that afternoon, after Ellie had said goodbye to an irritated Ashley, she sought out any friendly person who might show some normalcy. Alex seemed like the perfect candidate, until Ellie realized that due to the impending end-of-year dance, Alex was spending much of her after-school time in the company of Marco and the planning committee. At the end of what seemed like one of the longest school days in history, Ellie was pretty sure her eyes were going to roll right out of her head.

In lieu of any better ideas, she chose to stand in the doorway and watch.

"Alex, _how _can we not have a theme for this? It's the end-of-year dance. It's important."

"Sue me, Del Rossi, but I don't attend these stupid things. Why should I care?"

Apparently close to losing his cool, Marco held his face in his hands. Fortunately for him, though, one of the other members spoke up.

"Maybe we don't need a theme."

Marco looked up, and in this motion caught Ellie out of the corner of his eye. He gave her a quick look, then turned his attention to Liberty, who'd made the suggestion. "O-kay." His tone, in typical Marco fashion, was open and positive. "How so?"

"Well, we already did the Valentine's match-up dance. Why can't this dance be generic? A semi-formal feel, perhaps."

"Yes, Marco, a semi-formal feel," Alex repeated. "Just what I was thinking."

Nodding with a touch of apprehension, Marco took a quick poll of the committee and found that the idea went over well. "Themeless it is, then!" he announced with a clap of his hands. "We'll get down to the details at our next meeting on Thursday."

With that, the room slowly emptied, leaving only Marco and Alex lingering back to clean up. Ellie strolled over, smiling. "Going to be able to handle a themeless dance, Marco?" she asked.

Marco glared at Alex. "Guess I'll have to."

"Liberty, as obnoxiously power hungry as she can be, had a point," Alex said. "Besides, less work for us."

"Yeah, because that's really the idea, Alex."

"A little testy, aren't we?" Alex playfully punched Marco in the arm on her way out. "Later, ladies!"

Ellie could have sworn she heard a noise only slightly short of a growl come out of Marco's throat. For someone who didn't often let annoyance show, Marco was acting awfully, well, annoyed.

Putting her bag down, Ellie slipped up on a desktop. She could only manage a few minutes of Marco sifting through papers before speaking up:

"Marco, you can't let Alex get to you like that."

"I _know_, Ellie."

"I think we both _know_ that something else is bothering you." Marco scoffed, not bothering to look at Ellie, but she continued, "You didn't tell me the complete truth about the party, did you? About _Craig_ maybe?"

Marco finally turned to face Ellie, who was looking vaguely smug with her legs swinging back and forth against the desk. It didn't take long for him to give up the stare-down and join Ellie on an adjacent desktop.

"What do you want to know?" he asked reluctantly.

"I heard you kissed him."

Marco choked out a laugh. "Oh, so he's confiding in you now? That 'evil, two-timing, Craig monster,' if I remember your words correctly?"

"Not exactly. More like, he wants information about you from the font of all Marco knowledge." Marco only swayed slightly as Ellie nudged him. "You threw him for a loop, Marco. It sounds like your little kiss made him reevaluate his whole life."

"But I didn't even mean it! I was upset with Dylan, I wanted to make him jealous, and Craig was just... there..."

"So if I had been 'just there,' you would have kissed me, right?" No answer. "Wrong, Marco. There's something you're not telling me."

"El--"

"Marco, I know you too well. Don't lie to me, and don't lie to yourself."

Marco anxiously ran his hands over his face and back into his hair, practically pulling his face taut out of frustration. "It's just... did you see the way he acted this morning? I freaked him out, El. I should never have done something that idiotic."

"But, it's not like you like him, right? I mean, if he _really_ was coincidentally there when you plotted to make Dylan jealous, then you can explain that to him." Again, no answer. "Marco?"

"Look, what if I told you, Ellie, that Craig has always been the unattainable friend? That I couldn't say a word about it to you, because all this time he's been dating your best friend. And that Dylan made me forget about that silly, stupid, _impossible_ crush, but even then, Craig was there. He'll always be there."

One thing about Marco was that his face never lied. Any pretending on his part could be shot just by looking into his eyes, because they, of all his features, spoke the loudest.

At that moment, Ellie knew that Marco had been lying to her for some time. It would have been so simple to check his eyes whenever Craig was in his company; then, certainly, she would have known.

She would have realized it was exactly the way she felt about Marco.

"Hey, El?" Marco's tone was quieter now, and less severe.

"Yeah, Marco?"

"You can't... tell Craig."

Ellie nodded. "You're right," she said, sliding off the desk. "But you can."

"El! Ellie, I _can't_." Marco slid off his desk in a similar fashion, closing in on Ellie as she prepared to leave. "I never planned on telling him anything, _ever_."

"Trust me when I say that I think you and Craig need to talk. From the sounds of it, the situation is less one-sided than you make it out to be." Ellie began out the door, but turned her head at the last moment. "Besides, Marco, you of all people should know that plans change."

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	4. Chapter 4

A/N: This chapter took comparatively more time, I guess because I felt like it really needed to be _right_. I hope you all enjoy the next installment!

Thank you, by the way, to everyone who's reviewed so far. I really appreciate your support and help (poor newbie like me doesn't realize that she has anonymous reviews turned off, heee). Thank you thank you, and please let me know what you think about this next chapter!

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Disclaimer: I own nothing. I kid you not.

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Craig had expected that his life would have improved within a month. Surely, he'd thought, by mid-June, fate would have gotten bored with screwing up his life.

Unfortunately, the situation could not have been much worse. Ashley was gone, along with any semblance of a solid relationship between the two of them. He'd lost his guitar, as well as some blood trying to get it back. Home was miserable now that Caitlin was gone, which left Joey always on edge. And then, the cherry on the sundae, Craig hadn't had a normal, friendly, comfortable conversation with Marco ever since that damn party.

Now, as he learned from Ellie, Marco would be away on another continent in less than a week, leaving Craig to believe that the summer was destined to be an absolute, horrible failure.

Craig certainly wasn't proud of what he'd done with himself since the movie wrapped; each day he spent purging his brain of any lyrics that had been collecting, and when he had the opportunity, putting them to music on a cheap rental guitar. One night a week he went to his support group, which was both something to anticipate and something to fear. Conveniently, Ellie was the perfect connection to the two people plaguing Craig's mind. However, inconveniently, she was also less than thrilled with his recent behavior. He often daydreamed about amazing conversations with Ellie, in which he told her everything on his mind, and she told him what he wanted to hear in return.

This idea of what he wanted to hear, though, changed constantly. Some days he longed for Ashley, so on those days, fantasy-Ellie would tell him that when Ashley came back from England, their relationship would be rekindled. Other days he couldn't fathom a future with Ashley beyond high school--much less for the rest of his life--and on those days, fantasy-Ellie would tell him that he was better off without her. Still, there were subjects that even fantasy-Craig had a hard time bringing up, and the resulting futility he felt thinking about those would usually lead him to wonder why, when other guys fantasized about sex, he fantasized about _talking_.

Only sometimes would Craig allow his mind to drift to Marco, and even then, it was only to mourn the loss of a good friendship. If his mind showed the least bit tendency towards what he feared most--the feelings that Marco had somehow released within him in a split-second kiss--he would immediately distract himself. Leave that one to the realm of the subconscious, he decided.

Despite his best avoidance, however, Craig was well aware that in a matter of hours he would be attending the last support group before Marco's flight out later that week. Though he preferred to ignore it, he had a nagging urgency to do _something_.

Either that, or risk losing even more than he already had.

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Craig arrived before the usual time for support group that night. Earlier, while showering and hunting down his cleanest clothes, he had decided that if nothing else, he needed to write. He'd nervously scribbled a note as his wet hair dripped onto the paper, making a blotchy mess out of his candid confession to Marco that finally forced him to admit at least part of what he'd been internalizing for too long. _Sorry for my sucky behavior_; _sorry that I avoided you_; _we really need to talk_; _forgive me? _

Now, the anticipation of giving the note to Ellie was killing him. When he finally saw a tiny dot walking from the direction of the bus stop, Craig faced the building and tried for his most convincing nonchalant look. However, after giving Ellie ample time to get closer, Craig turned around only to have his heart catch in his throat tightly.

There, walking right beside her, was none other than Marco.

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Hearing Marco whimper ever-so-slightly as they approached, Ellie took his hand and spoke quietly. "You will be fine, just like I told you."

"I don't even know what to say."

"Marco, you need to do this."

He nodded and released Ellie's hand when they neared, putting on his best smile.

Craig, on the other hand, looked like he might vomit.

"Craig!" Ellie said, perhaps a bit too cheerfully, when they met. "Why don't you two stay out here? I'll tell everyone that you had to go home. Be back in an hour!" With that, Ellie scooted away through the doors, leaving Craig and Marco face-to-face and awkwardly silent.

Marco was the first to speak. "I want to say, I'm sorry--"

"No, no, no!" Craig said quickly, cutting him off. "_I'm _sorry. I even have this note..." He held the paper out to Marco.

Marco took the note and read through what Craig had written. Looking up when he finished, he half-smiled. "That was nice, Craig."

"Nice..." Craig scratched his head and went to sit on the curb. Staring at nothing in particular, he said, "I wanted it to be more than just _nice_, Marco. It's important to me."

"I know," said Marco, joining Craig.

"It's just, I've lost enough. I don't want to lose a friend like you, too."

"You won't," Marco reassured, placing his arm around Craig's shoulders. "I'll be back in a couple of months, and we'll have an amazing year--"

"You sound awfully confident." As he spoke, Craig concentrated on his words as hard as possible, trying to ignore that the hairs on his arms were standing on end.

"Fine. Tell me what's really on your mind."

Craig wasn't expecting such a response from Marco, and was left speechless for what felt like eternity. In this time, Marco brought his arm back to his own body and pulled his bent legs to his chest.

Finally, Craig gave in against his own better judgement. Keeping his head tilted towards the ground, picking at tiny bits of gravel to busy his hands, he admitted, "You confused me, Marco."

"How is that?"

"Well, what I told you before--before, the uh--before you told me to tell you you're an idiot?"

"Yeah?"

"I wasn't really lying. I mean, you're a great guy, you know? A great friend. And when I said I wasn't--you know--"

"Gay?"

"Yeah, I wasn't really lying then, either."

Marco nodded his head and looked out to nothing in particular. "O-kay."

Craig's speech became more frenzied. "But then you kissed me!"

"I tried to apologize, Craig--"

"But no! I don't want you to apologize. Because then you kissed me, and all of a sudden, I didn't know what to think any more." Craig was now staring intensely at the side of Marco's face, breathing somewhat heavily, waiting for Marco to stop looking ahead and turn towards him.

But Marco remained fixated on nothingness, completely unsure of what to say next. He remembered Craig's reaction at Dylan's party, how he'd looked like some hybrid of shocked and disgusted. Marco hadn't given it much thought at the time, since clearly the breakup was first priority, but it seemed fairly obvious that Craig had felt nothing positive about that kiss, and so that was that. He'd learned a long time ago that not dwelling was the best way to deal when Craig was involved.

"Marco, listen."

Slowly, Marco turned his head to look to Craig.

"When you kissed me, something happened. I don't know if it's because I never thought about it, or, or, or what. It wasn't _bad_, though. Surprising, maybe--"

"Craig, don't lie to yourself," Marco said quietly, averting his eyes from Craig's. "I saw your face, okay? The way you reacted..."

"I was shocked, yeah. Can you blame me?" Marco shook his head. "Yeah, me either. But I know, because I've kissed girls before where I've never felt like that, I know that something else is going on. I mean, let's talk about Ellie. You knew something was up when you kissed her, right?"

"Craig!" Marco interjected.

"Well I didn't feel like that. It didn't feel _wrong_ like that." Craig inhaled deeply, pausing to try to catch Marco's gaze again. "But what I need to know is, was it because it was you, because you're a guy, or was it just a fluke?"

Marco realized that despite all previous history, this conversation was breaking all the rules of logic: The guy's guy who once managed to balance two women simultaneously was questioning his sexuality. And so, for the second time in recent memory, Marco broke a rule of his own, the rule he'd set for himself years before when anything beyond friends with Craig was decidedly unfeasible.

He dipped his head, placed two fingers under Craig's chin, and pulled him in for a soft, brushing kiss.

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	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Here are the final two chapters. I was inspired by you reviewers to finally give it an ending, and I hope you all like it! Thank you to everyone who's been reading! You're all amazing. :)

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Much to both boys' surprise, it didn't take long for Craig to decide support group was worth skipping and volunteer his empty house in the interest of solving his problem.

"But Joey..."

"Work."

"Angie?"

"Simpson's."

"And Joey gets off of work when?"

Craig rolled his eyes as he hurriedly led Marco up his stairs. "You worry too much." After showing Marco into his bedroom, Craig shut his door and swallowed hard. Both stared at each other for a tense moment before Craig jumped and pressed Marco's mouth to his own, skipping all niceties and allowing his tongue to do whatever it might please. Before long, Marco backed into Craig's bed and flopped down on his back, taking an eager Craig with him and returning the hungry kiss in what was possibly the sloppiest make-out of either of their experiences. Hands explored beneath shirts as Craig pinned Marco on his comforter, and Craig couldn't help but dip his hips onto Marco's as his jeans tightened uncomfortably. Coming up for air, Craig rolled over beside Marco and breathed heavily for a savored moment, then quickly pulled off his shirt; Marco took the opportunity to do the same. He then hovered above Craig, dragging a finger from Craig's navel to his chest and sinking onto the larger boy's body with a strategic placement of his thigh between both of Craig's.

Despite his initial, very receptive, reaction, Craig pulled back suddenly. Marco's expression became concerned. "Craig? You okay?"

Craig swallowed and nodded, but as if changing his mind in a split second, he replied, "Not sure." Marco slid to the side tentatively, leaving Craig beside him, staring up at the ceiling and breathing heavily.

Marco turned his body in Craig's direction and watched him silently before propping himself up on an elbow and brushing Craig gently on the shoulder. "Craig? Look, if you want to stop—"

"I don't. It's just—" Craig turned his head to look up to Marco. "It's just kind of weird. That's all. I'm not used to, you know..."

"I understand," said Marco, and he sat up to retrieve his shirt. As he reached, though, Craig placed his palm on Marco's chest and shook his head.

"I'm fine," he insisted, and moving his arm around Marco's back, pulled Marco into their previous position, shuddering slightly at the tingle of skin-to-skin contact.

Marco looked down with his eyes—so understanding—and smiled. "We'll take it slow," he said, and met Craig's lips softly before bringing the kissing and touching back up to pace. Before long, jeans unzipped, and Craig marveled at just how great Marco was with his hands and let his hips rock and ask for more. He could feel so much blood rushing, so much good feeling, so much...

"Craig! I'm home!"

Both boys leapt up and scrambled for clothing in a fury of cursing. It seemed that Marco was on the same page as Craig, knowing that Joey might have gone so far as letting his own stepson punch him in the face, but would probably not know how to deal with finding Craig making out with a boy in his bedroom. In fact, Joey hadn't been particularly happy when he'd walked in on Craig and Ashley the first time, but Craig still thought that was bullshit because he'd heard stories about Joey's behavior in high school. Craig liked knowing that he could justify so many of his wrongdoings with "But you did that when you were my age!"; this, on the other hand, most likely would not be covered under that policy.

"Craig? You up there?" The voice was noticeably closer.

Craig cleared his throat as he yanked his shirt over his head and shakily yelled, "Uh, yeah, hi!" Quickly he smoothed his hair down and straightened out his shirt, then opened the door with the least obvious smile he could muster. "Joey, hey!"

Expression curious, Joey cocked his head to try to see into Craig's room. He lowered his voice and asked, "Have someone over?"

Craig's face slightly crinkled at Joey's tone. "A friend," he replied, opening the door fully. "Just Marco."

"Oh," Joey said between laughs. "Hey Marco!"

Marco walked up behind Craig and waved politely. "Hi Mr. Jeremiah."

"You guys having band practice or something?" Craig shook his head and Joey shrugged. "Oh, okay," he said as he headed back down the stairs. "I'll be down here if you need anything."

After Joey could be heard entering the kitchen, Craig swung his head to look down at Marco and plainly stated, "Holy shit." He paused and crossed his arms. "But you know, that's the best mood he's been in for a while. Strange."

Marco casually leaned back against the door frame. "What can I say, Craig? I guess I have that effect on people," he said, grinning. Craig shoved Marco's shoulder playfully, Marco fought back, and within no time, the flirting escalated to another kiss. This time, however, Craig pulled away before anything could go too far.

"Not while Joey's home," he insisted, but Marco knew there was more to it.

"Craig, talk to me."

After pausing to consider his words, Craig said, "You know I'm impulsive, right?"

Marco looked amused. "Uh huh."

"This was kind of an impulse for me. I mean, the whole thing, me—uh—wanting you. Very impulsive." Marco's expression read neutral, but Craig could tell that he hadn't considered his words well enough. He quickly amended, "Not that it was a bad thing. Not at all! Actually, it was good. Very, very good."

"Craig," Marco interjected, "just get to the point."

"I don't really get what I'm feeling. I don't understand. I guess, after spending all this time thinking girls were it for me, it's just weird. And you're my friend first, and a relationship—"

"Whoa, Craig. Relationship?"

"I'm just saying, Marco. I mean, you're going away for the summer, and I'm still, y'know, confused."

"You're bisexual, Craig, nothing to be worried about. And yeah, I agree with you." Marco eyes caught Craig's. "Besides, can I be honest with you?" Craig nodded. "As much as I want to be past it all, the Dylan thing—I don't think I am."

"Hey," Craig said kindly, wrapping his arm around Marco's shoulder and pulling him in, "I think you've heard enough about my problems to deserve to talk to me about yours." Marco returned the semi-hug and nodded. "Any time. Even from Africa. I listen really well through email and letters and stuff."

Smiling, Marco straightened up and gave Craig a pat on the back. "You're a good guy, you know that?"

Craig swayed his head back and forth indecisively before giving in and grinning. "Yeah, yeah."

After a quick check of his watch, Marco shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "Well," he said, "I actually have to get going. Ma wants me to start packing." He paused, taking a moment to look down at the floor before returning his gaze to Craig. "Promise to write?"

Craig nodded. "Promise. And uh, I guess I'll see you at school?"

"Yeah, see you then," Marco replied, and somewhat anticlimactically he left the room.

Standing in complete silence following what had been one of the wildest afternoons of his life, still not completely aware of how much had really happened, Craig simply sat down on his bed in shock.


	6. Chapter 6

True to his word, Craig did keep in touch. When Marco wrote about the amazing sights, he wrote about his improvement in support group. When Marco wrote about the amazing feeling of helping others, he wrote about his growing friendship with Ellie. They corresponded constantly throughout the summer, keeping each other updated on their respective sides of the Atlantic.

Ellie happily took note that Marco and Craig's friendship was intact, and though she was positively dying for details, she didn't press too hard. It came naturally when she and Craig started hanging out more often, spending time together after group meetings, and then, whenever they had free time.

"It's still bugging me, Ellie," Craig admitted one night while they sat watching a movie on his sofa.

"What's bugging you?"

"The Marco thing."

"Yeah, still don't know what happened there, so..."

Craig sighed. "We made out."

Ellie tried to keep her expression unremarkable. "Oh?"

"Yeah. But then Joey came home, and after that we just talked."

"Talked about what?"

"About me being confused, basically. And that we should just be friends." Craig looked emptily at the screen. "He just left after that, Ellie. It felt so unresolved."

"If you decided to just be friends, then why was it unresolved?" Ellie asked, a little confused herself.

"It just felt that way, I don't know. I think about it, and I don't think we could ever date or anything. But—"

"You still have feelings for him," Ellie finished.

Craig nodded in agreement, and Ellie took her turn to sigh. "Obviously our situations are just a little different, but I know what it's like in the unrequited world, especially with Marco," she confessed. "You'd think a girl would lose interest after fake-dating a gay guy for a year."

"Heh," Craig responded, his voice taking on a subdued, defeated tone. "You know, it doesn't help that I still have feelings for Ash, too. Yet here I am, all alone while they're both somewhere else in the world."

Ellie placed a hand on Craig's arm. "Hey, I'm here. You can talk to me whenever you want, okay? I'll listen."

"I know," Craig replied, and gave Ellie a small smile.

"Basically, Craig, just remember this: whatever is going to happen will. You'll deal with it when you get there."

--

Thinking back to that afternoon that he sat so still on his bed, stunned, Craig knew at that moment he'd have never imagined himself being so calm upon Marco's return. But one summer—and one new, amazing friend—later, things had changed. He was able to keep a perfect composure when Marco called, inviting him to the Dot. And when he saw Marco walking towards him, skin glowing and hair unruly, he was able to smile and conduct totally friendly, normal, guy behavior. Only a few butterflies in his stomach told him otherwise, but by the middle of their conversation, the butterflies had disappeared; it was then that Craig knew it was all okay.

He and Marco never revisited the elevated level of their friendship. The new year brought new people and new problems, and even a new future for Craig. Riding along in Joey's convertible, ready to start from scratch away from Degrassi, Craig felt nothing but content; he glanced back at a tearful Manny in the back seat, then shifted his gaze forward once again, smiling slowly. He had the best friend he could ever ask for, and that was good enough.


End file.
